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“Corruptissima republica plurimae leges. [The more
numerous the laws, the more corrupt the state.]“-Tacitus, the Annals ca. AD 69

The nature of what is ‘legal’ has become a truly bizarre concept
these days. Developed nations of the west have hundreds of
thousands of pages of rules, codes, regulations, laws, decrees,
executive orders, etc., many of which are contradictory, archaic,
and incomprehensible.

Across these ‘free’ nations, the law is selectively enforced,
selectively applied, and completely set aside whenever it pleases
the state. As such, even the most harmless of activities
(operating a lemonade stand, collecting rainwater, etc.) can be
cast as illegal… while the direct theft of
people’s wealth through taxes and manipulation of the currency is
considered legal.

There is no morality anymore in the law. And even still, whatever
few activities may still be considered ‘legal’ are subject
to consequences if the enforcers simply decide they don’t
like it.

I have a good friend you might like to hear from on the subject;
his name is Jake Lawless (an assumed pen name for reasons which
will become obvious), and he is a bit of a master when it comes
to skirting the line between what’s legal, and what they just
don’t like.

In Jake’s words:

—

I’m a beneficiary of mortgage brokers who believed that housing
prices would rise forever. The US real estate crash, plus high
gas prices, forced a lot of people to sell their luxury vehicles…
and the sudden glut caused prices to fall dramatically.

I didn’t think much about the market for pre-owned luxury cars
until one day an engine fire from a cracked turbo manifold in my
truck left me stranded. After a day’s search, I found a beautiful
car for sale in Nevada, and the asking price was a fraction of
the pre-crash peak.

I then contacted the dealer, wired a $500 deposit, and bought a
ticket to Las Vegas… all after explaining that I wanted to
purchase the vehicle with pre-1965 US quarters.

You may know that, before 1965, many US coins had a very high
silver content. As such, they had intrinsic value… real worth,
completely independent of “faith” or “because we decree it thus.”

I put roughly 4,000 of these quarters (~$1000 of face value) in a
carry-on bag and headed to the airport. The quick math is this–
4,000 pre-1965 quarters contains 715 ounces of silver. At the
time, silver was about $35/ounce, so 715 ounces was worth
$25,000. In other words, every single quarter had a silver
content worth about $6.25.

At the airport, I played my part in security theatre, dutifully
removing my shoes after heaving my luggage onto the conveyor.
There was a flurry of activity on other side of the x-ray
machine. A crack TSA operative stormed up, indignant. “WHOA sir…I
have to inspect your luggage.”

Mind you, there is no law against transporting 54 pounds (24.5
kg) of quarters onto an airplane, but that didn’t seem to matter.
He just didn’t like it. The TSA guy opened my luggage to find a
ziptied cloth bag labelled “$1000″.

“What’s this all about?”

“That’s a bag of quarters. I’m on my way to Vegas,” I said,
showing my boarding pass. “I have a system for playing the
slots.”

“Wow… will you go through all these?”

“Heck, no. I plan on coming back with even more. I told you, I’ve
got a system. I can’t lose!”

“Can I cut the zip tie off and have a look?”

“I’d rather you didn’t, unless you have another zip tie…I don’t
want 4000 quarters rolling all over the plane.”

TSA guy demurred. “Oh, ok. Well, good luck. Hope you win big!”

Upon arrival to Las Vegas, the dealer picked me up and drove us
directly to a coin shop. I gave him the coins, around $1,000 in
face value, and he handed them to the clerk who promptly issued a
check for roughly $25,000 made out to the dealer.

It was a legitimate swap– $1,500 worth of legal tender changed
hands (my $500 original deposit plus another roughly $1,000 in
face value of the pre-1965 quarters), plus value-for-value was
bartered between two grown adults.

I drove away with a bill of sale for $1,500, which I then
submitted to my state DMV authorities as a basis for them
charging me a vehicle tax. Frankly, I think this is highway
robbery. Why my state has its hand out every time two individuals
conduct a private transaction is beyond me.

But what can anyone do about it? Lobby the state legislature?
Rock the vote? Protest… and hope we don’t get arrested, beaten,
or shot by those sworn to protect and to serve? Give someone at
the DMV a stern lecture about economic freedom?

Trying to change this system is a waste of resources. It’s a race
that everyone will lose. Besides, you could spend your whole life
lobbying to change one law, and by the time you succeed, they’ll
have already passed another 10,000 new, even dumber laws.

Fact is, no one can do anything about this. Just like nobody can
prevent Ben Bernanke from dropping money from helicopters. We
can’t stop the price rises from monetary inflation, we can’t stop
out of control spending (and theft) at all levels of government.

What we CAN do is take sensible steps to protect what’s ours… and
then use their own stupid rules against them. It’s a much easier
way to win.